VEXPro Out of Stock
 

VexPro seems to be going out of stock of some items. Specifically hex shaft stock and maybe some versa planetary parts?

Any other sources to get hex shaft besides AndyMark and VexPro

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

McMaster Carr is your friend for all things mechanical:
http://www.mcmaster.com/#aluminum-hex-bars/=q9yech

Also Metals Depot:
https://www.metalsdepot.com/index.php

Hope that helps :)
(the 2024 alloy is probably best, besides 7075, which is not available on McMaster)

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Most metal suppliers should carry 1/2" steel hex shaft/bar. The tolerancing may not be identical to that used by Vexpro or Andymark hex products, though.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

It's usually pretty bad. I have a lot of not so fond memories of sanding down McMaster "1/2" hex shaft to fit. If you really don't want to wait for Vex Pro or WCP, Churo Tube from AM is probably your best bet.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Be careful when you buy hex stock from McMaster Carr though, You want to get slip fit stock (like what you find from Vex Pro). The raw stock that you buy on McMaster is not a slip on tolerance, and will not fit well with your Vex couplings, spacers, and collars. The Vex hex stock our team has purchased is extruded and seems to arrive slightly bent. We will be looking at other options in the future.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

All of the Versaplanetary parts are in stock, except the dual motor input. That will be back in stock and shipping next week.

There are two versions of the hex stock, 3' and 18". The 3' length is temporarily out of stock, but the 18" version is still in stock. The 18" version holds a tighter straightness tolerance than the 3' version so if you do not need the length, then I recommend the 18" length.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

It's been a very interesting two weeks guessing at what will come in the next package from VexPro :)

We've gotten 5 packages so far, with another 2 recently shipped.

I absolutely love VexPro, it's just a bit unfortunate for us because we, as a team, have decided to purchase (essentially) all of our parts from VexPro this year because of the huge selection - from the VersaChassis to WCD gearboxes to gussets and VersaPlanetaries and more, spending 40% of our budget this year - and we're very confused as to what's going on.

I wish the products were in-stock better given that they really only need to be super-well stocked for 6 weeks out of 52, but at the same time understand the logistical difficulties of coordinating expected demand and then dealing with the actuality.

Just wish we had a drivetrain by now :(

Anyways, thanks to the VexPro team for how they've been handling it - we've noticed two of our packages shipped 2nd day versus ground - and we understand that some things (manufacturing) are at this point out of your hands.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Order the 18in for what you need if you need it now. I placed our order on Tuesday and ordered the 18in stock so we can make the drive axles we need now and we can wait for the 3ft stock to come in.

The package just arrived on my desk along with hex bearings, collars, chain, etc. While a lot of Vex/WCP is out of stock for various reasons you can't beat their shipping! I've had orders out the door within 1-2 hours of placing the order.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

All of us at VEX are distraught about the product availability timing this year for VEXpro. Some things were definitely out of our control, but most were completely within our control.

We made forecasting and planning decisions based on last year and based on how useful we thought each product was going to be (btw, not at all knowing what the game is ahead of time) for the upcoming season. We got way too many things wrong this year, but I can promise these two things: (1) We will do whatever we can to make it right this season and (2) we WILL be much, much better next year.

Again, I apologize for the delays and please work directly with our sales team for your specific shipping issues. You can call at 903-453-0802 or e-mail at sales<at>vexrobotics.com.

Paul

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Paul,

Thanks for your honesty and straightforwardness.

It's really a pleasure to deal with a company that recognizes and acknowledges it's own mistakes and promises to own up to them.

Which is part of the reason we put in another VexPro order a few days ago, and are putting in another one today or tomorrow despite the delays and shortcomings in supply stock. (It's too hard to resist buying this stuff - you guys have some really amazing products!)

Thank you for the work you and the VexPro team are currently undergoing to get things back on track - we look forward to getting our packages from VexPro in the coming week!

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

As an aside, we have found that the CAD files of the vex parts have made 3D printing a breeze. We have printed out gussets etc. which have allowed us to move forward with pre-production of our practice bot. We know it won't stand up to much, but we can replace them when the real stuff arrives.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

By the way, where can the stand-offs used in the various gussets be purchased?

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

They are standard VEX standoffs, so just wander over the VEX site, I'll try and get the link on the gussets page.

-Aren

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Is there an estimated time of arrival on the 3' hex shaft??

Thanks

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Thanks Aren.

One last question - the page for the WCP DS Gearbox says "Note: A pneumatic shifting cylinder is not included in the Ball Shifter kit. Be sure to add one in the "Pancake Cylinder Option" category if needed."

Is this just for the VexPro BallShifter, or does the WCP DS WCD Gearbox also not include the Pancake cylinder and it must be ordered separately?

Just need to know if we should order two of them since we bought the WCP DS WCD gearbox.

Thanks.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Oops, I'll take this one. Sometimes we copy and paste notes from one page to the next... sometimes we forget to change product names..

Pancake cylinders are not included in either the Ball Shifter or WCP DS kits. You can grab a spare cylinder from the pneumatics page if needed.

Where do you find the cad files?

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

At the bottom of the product page

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

I ordered this 1/2" hex shaft stainless Tuesday evening and received ysterday afternoon. I have the Prime subscription and next day cost $4; standard ground shipping is free. We had a defective ToughBox long shaft.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Just something to be aware of - hex stock from sources other than VexPro tend to run oversized. You will probably need to do some machining to get these shafts to fit through bearings and even some broached parts.

The undersized Vex hex stock is probably my favorite product that Vex offers. Seriously saves us many, many hours milling the faces of hex shafts down to size.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Can you recommend appropriate FRC-legal fittings for this cylinder? An SMC part number would suffice for me.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Any fitting with a #10-32 thread pretty much. Mcmaster has a bunch, so does automationdirect.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Travis,

The following is a kit with 2 straights and 2 elbows. This kit is included with all versions of the Ball Shifter.
http://www.vexrobotics.com/vexpro/ge.../217-2907.html

Paul

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Paul,
I hope that one day soon, the stakeholders of the GDC and FIRST will unveil more details of the game to suppliers, in order to achieve better forecasting of specific parts that might sell more than others.
As with any company, having an excess of inventory isnt always good and bottom line, teams cant get what they need in such a time crucial project for high demand items.

Personally, our biggest issue has always been pneumatic cylinders. Its an expensive item to stock up on in different sizes. Its not like we are the Robonauts that carry 100's of cylinders in their stock bin ready for use. :ahh:

-Glenn

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

For anyone else on the VexPro Team -

After the new shipments come in next week, will you be stocked for the rest of the season? Or will sporadic shipments continue?

I ask because we'll very likely have to order more VersaChassis gussets and channels and I wanted to know if they'll be in stock (and we'll be able to order on-demand) or if we need to order in advance in order to "get in line".

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

VexPro was able to just give us two 18" shafts and adjust the total cost very easily.

Thanks VexPro!

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Hey Paul, is there any word as to what the lead times might be for the out of stock Dog gears?

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Good point Chris. Always look at the specs on shafts.

Temper 0 (Annealed) <-- machinable
Width 1/2 inches
Width Tolerance +0/-0.004 inches <-- will determine fit to hole
Overall Length 36 inches
Length Tolerance +0.032/-0 inches
Indentation Hardness 83 Rockwell B
Tensile Strength Max 89900 PSI

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Derek,

The individual Dog Gears are out of stock because we are holding them for full gearbox orders. As a general rule, when we get into situations where inventory will be tight we will always take individual product out of stock to ensure the gearbox orders can be fulfilled.

So right now, I have no date for you. We are monitoring our inventory consumption daily and will update you when we know more.

Paul

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

I placed an order for dog gears on January 9th. Will we receive them, or are we out of luck for a while?

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Anyone who placed orders while they were in stock will receive their gears.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Any chance of getting a firm shipping date on the 3 CIM ball shifters? We've been given 3 different dates so far and all of them have passed. Maybe next week isn't a very confident answer when our drivetrain has been sitting for a week just waiting on gearboxes. I'm not trying to come off as a jerk, but we are behind schedule due to this; and if the ball shifters and WCP gearboxes aren't going to be available we are going to need to make some significant design changes to try to accommodate some other gearbox. :(

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

I apologize for the inconvenience we have caused and I am confident we will be shipping your gearboxes out next week.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Paul, thanks for keeping us updated on the status. We just placed our order today for the 3 CIM Ball Shifters. Not in a rush at the moment but even once we get the DT done we have other sections to work on so next week is still good.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Bumping Kirill's question because I have the same - There are parts of new mechanisms I've designed that are made of VersaChassis gussets and tubing, and while I'd really love to use the Versa system for these assemblies, I can't afford to wait if the remainder of this season will be affected by the popularity of the products in the beginning of the season. That being said, 95% of our robot is Versa stuff, so we gotta thank y'all and WCP for making such a great framing system.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Just for the record, we had an order that included VersaFrame 1" x 1" ship on Friday -- we'd only ordered it on Wednesday evening and were pleasantly surprised since the website had indicated this was delayed. Thanks!!!

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

The shipping confirmation stated that at least some of your order shipped and to check your packing list for what actually shipped. I can tell you with 100% certainty that the 1 x 1 tube did not ship because we did not have any to ship on Friday.

We are due to receive more this week, but until we ship out the currently received orders we will not be putting that particular item back in stock.

The answer to your question depends on which products and how many people order after they come in stock. The gussets and tubing have out sold our expectations by orders of magnitude so I can't make any promises of how long they will stay in stock. However, the gussets are made by IFI manufacturing on our same campus here in Greenville so we can just keep making more after they run out.

Paul

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

So gussets will primarily remain in stock and the stock of tubing is uncertain?

Besides the tubing, the main part I'm curious about is versablocks, which to my understanding still haven't shipped - will those remain in stock or is that up in the air?

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Yeah, sorry about that -- but thanks anyway for turning around the partial order so quickly.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

I know it's hard to forecast things some times, especially with new products, but it's bad never having any 3' hex shaft in stock and darn near unforgivable being out of stock on something like 1/2 hex Versa Hubs.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

The 3' Hex shaft will be in stock Monday. We sent too many to one of our distributors and they sent some back to us.


Ok, so in your eyes its unforgivable to not have hex VersaHubs. How many would you keep in stock? I'm curious, how many? I will also give you the same information I had going into this year. We sold a total of 800 all last year (from release in December, 2012 through October, 2013). I will tell you how many we ordered for this season if you tell me how many you would have stocked if you were me.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

If I were you Paul, I would have ordered 800-900 or so considering last year's numbers. So I'm assuming you order more and they just sold like hotcakes :)

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Regardless, it's nice to order basic, interchangable parts like what you can get from Vex Pro before a season anyway to avoid any issues. The VersaBlocks are special in that they are a new product, but as long as we get them soon I'll be ok.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Kinda depends on when you needed to make the call, Paul. I'm going to guess you had to do that several weeks ago; i.e., before BuildBlitz showed so many FRC teams how these parts can be used in both drivetrains and scoring mechanisms for Aerial Assist robots.

My team is among those that will need to wait a while longer before we get some of the VexPro parts we ordered last week. We aren't waiting on VersaHubs -- our key items are VersaFrame 2x1, and VersaBlocks. If they don't come in time we will develop another approach, and learn from the experience.

Both suppliers and teams have to make plans based on incomplete data. This is one of the factors that makes the FRC much more interesting than a homework exercise or a science project.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

But it's also very silly for a company to have 10x their annual sales on hand too, so Vex is in a tough spot.

Order too much, that's a big hit to the bottom line and cash flow. Order too little and you get delays.

It's easy as a customer to demand the supplier be perfect in everyway, but Vex's market share is growing and constantly changing so it's not trivial.

They've also already admitted that they have learned a lot from this process, and will do better next year. They're being incredibly transparent and doing everything they can to keep customers happy it seems like. Aside from using a time machine to reforecast for the 2014 season, there isn't much else they can do to rectify the issue.

We've been happy with Vex overall, and will continue to purchase their products.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

I haven't seen this asked (maybe I missed it), but does VexPro have an estimate on when their 1" x 2" rectangular tubing will be back in stock? It seems it went out of stock just as we went to order... :(

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

We ordered 3,000 and they sold out in 18 days.

Ironically, my Build Blitz team used 0 1/2" Hex Versahubs.

If you really want to use Versahubs, you have several choices:

1. Order the 1/2" round and use as is.

2. Order the 1/2" round and broach a hex

3. Order the 1/4" round, bore it out to 1/2" round, and broach a hex.

With the data from last year, I thought ordering almost 4x the qty would be more than enough. I guess I was wrong.

Paul

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

We are set to receive several hundred 1 x 2 tubes this week. We will put them back in stock when we are confident we can ship them same day.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

I would have projected a linear increase in sales from the previous three years. Instead of adding any more inventory for a buildblitz surge, I would have increased potential capacity through additional machine shops. I can imagine that the supply base agreements may have some exclusivity, but that could be made contingent on their capacity.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

It's worth noting that Vex and AndyMark parts have the same bolt hole pattern. While it lack the elegant integration of VersaHubs with other VexPro parts, AndyMark has 0.5" hex hubs as well.
http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-2568.htm
http://www.andymark.com/product-p/am-0096a.htm

They don't have three previous years of data. The VexPro line was started just before the 2013 build season.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

A lot of the products in the line up have been catering towards teams who just don't have the resources to machine similar parts. Wouldn't be surprised if some teams who used to make their own parts in the past haven't been looking at Vexpro saying "Why are we making these, let's buy them!"

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

You can't just pick a new machine shop overseas and have them instantly start producing good parts. That wouldn't work at all.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

I'm surprised to hear that only 800 hex hubs were sold last year. At the time, I saw the low price and just bought a bunch without having an immediate use for them (I don't think we put any on last year's robot). I think hubs are an important thing to have around for prototyping.

I have to believe that the VersaChassis and VersaBlocks are exploding the sales of 1/2" hex VersaHubs.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

It is actually a standard engineering practice to do a Make vs Buy analysis, based on resources (both hard and soft) to make this decision.

7-8 years ago when commercial parts were much less common my teams would design custom transmissions every year. Now that there are so many ratios and configurations available from numerous suppliers it does not make sense to design our own unless we need something very custom.

In fact a few years ago when I looked at prices of gear stock, bearings, and materials it was basically a wash on cost. The only difference is ordering them I could have them in 2 days vs 1 week making them ourselves.

That being said I am in full support of teams building their own parts if they have the resources (time, money and machines) as it is an absolutely essential skill for every engineer to get some hands on experience; you can't design parts if you don't understand the manufacturing process on how they will be made. Each team needs to make the call based on your individual resources and there is no one absolute answer.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

The strategy I envisioned would split the US into thirds, adding suppliers to each coast. However, you would definitely need to have trial runs at each new facility. The value analysis might not even make sense at the time, with all the unknowns. It certainly isn't surmountable to prepare for upticks in the market, and buildblitz (intentional or not) is a huge marketing promotion.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

A lot of the product is made in China.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

I definitely have too little information. It's a really neat problem to contemplate though and every business struggles with this problem. It's a good one to have and I doubt it will deter too many FRC teams from the VEX Pro line in the future.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

We have some stuff back-ordered from VexPro. Their staff is very open, responsive and helpful. These things happen - Vexpro products are suddenly hugely popular, beyond any reasonable forecast. It happens every day in "real" engineering efforts. One has to learn to change focus, re-order build priorities, inform your customers and weather the storm. It is unfortunate but a valuable lesson for FIRSTers to experience.

1296 will continue to be loyal Vexpro customers with every confidence Vexpro will improve the 2015 forecasting model with 2014 data.

Thanks Paul!

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

The explosion in popularity of VexPro is important to FRC in several ways that I can see.
1) It shows the vast improvement in quality of products. Vex observed and listened to teams and their needs, and their excellent products are the response.
2) It has already pushed other providers to make more quality products. AndyMark, while already the gold standard, has increased the quality and variety of their products in the last two years in big ways, and I'm guessing that at least part of that was in response to VexPro.
3) It illustrates the raising of the overall FRC experience at the team level. Many, many more teams (my own included) now know how to recognize great ideas and implement them on our bots.
4) It shows (along with the First Choice issue) that FRC is continuing to grow; maybe even leading the way as the BEST way to lead high school students into great future options. I know that I have consciously chosen this experience and rejected others, because FRC has the best bang for the buck that I've run across.

Most of us are in the same boat right now: waiting for parts. This may be anxiety producing, but it's not a new experience, and it's forcing us to adapt and be flexible. I will also continue to support VexPro, and will look forward to what they come up with in the coming year that advances the experience even more.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

When the http://www.vexrobotics.com/ site says "out of stock" or "Ships in 1 Week" is that only referring to the Texas warehouse or is that all of your distributors? If not it would sure be nice if you could place an order from that site and then pick which location it would ship from.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

On the build vs. buy thing, even for top level teams, on kickoff day, we gave a serious look at the off the shelf options, and spent a couple solid hours weighing and debating it. The COTS items available this year are really good. Even though we have in-house CNC capabilities, we gave strong consideration to things like WCP gearboxes and bearing blocks, transmissions, and Vexpro ballshifters. But, in the end, by a very narrow margin, we decided to make all our own wheels, axles, gearboxes, frame, etc. There were just a few details on some of the COTS parts that we thought we could do better with custom parts, and we're saving a good bit of $$ by making things ourselves. But, we're paying the price of manufacturing time spent. It will be a couple weeks still before we have gearboxes and a frame. But, we think it will be worth it in the end.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

We are going custom frame but not gearboxes. I'd love to hear some of the things that you feel you are saving by going custom. Weight and space are the two advantages I see of going custom over something like the WCP 3 CIM dog shifters. I'd love to see plates like the one on the WCP 3 CIM single speed be offered to make this point null.

Even so, the COTS stuff can be really useful. For example, 2/3 of our "custom" gearboxes this year are using vex versaplanetaries/cim-ilies as the initial stage(the third custom gearbox is designed to fit CIMs so we still might use these two options later). This has drastically simplified the design, and given us more versatile options if we believe that our ratios are unfit later.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Stock status on the VEX website only reflects information for products shipping from us directly in Greenville, TX.

Best,
Ricky

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

We went with a custom 2 speed 3 CIM gearbox this year because of size, weight, gear ratios, and availability. We need room on the inside of our robot to hold the ball, and we don't want a wide bot, so the gearboxes need to be as skinny as possible so we've made them backwards so that the shaft comes out the same side as the CIM motors are mounted to and so the motors are very close to the sides. Besides for the gearbox plates, everything else in the gearbox is off the shelf shafts/bearings/gears/shifting parts from vex and AM.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Paul and or VexPro staff,

Any thoughts / insight into when we might see the shifting and gear assemblies back in stock for the 3 CIM Ball shifter (specifically the 2.65 spread short shaft)? Our order showed up missing those parts, because of an oversight in ordering the gearboxes, which I will say was at least a tad confusing to me as a mentor, as it was me who made the mistake. We need to decide whether to return what we have and use something else, or if we can afford to wait to get the drive base running. I could imagine our team cannot tolerate more than 7-10 days taking into consideration the fact that I'm going to pay out of my own pocket to ship the parts next day air to Indiana. I'm just looking for a little more information so that the students can make a more informed decision.

Also, many of us understand the dilemma that Vex Pro has with parts ordering and maintaining stock. I agree suppliers deserve more information. I say this though, with the utmost respect, understanding your situation doesn't change ours. We still only have six weeks and need a robot driving in 2-3 max.

Best Regards.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

I noticed that the website is updated. However, I was wondering if you guys can release any information about current acquisition lead times. We are primarily looking at the dog gears as we have our own custom plates and set ups from prior years.

While we can live off an old shifter design for the meanwhile, we desperately want to upgrade the drive before our week 1 regional. Can you provide information to let me know if gears are on their way or if I need to start sourcing my own gears

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

My team placed an order for our base chassis last Monday (1/13) and we just got it today. That order is missing the 1x2 stock, VersaBlock Kit, VersaChassis Hex Shaft, 1x1 stock, and our 3 CIM Ball Shifter's Short Shifter Shaft. Any idea on when those parts are going to be shipping?

We are also looking to place another order for our upper mechanism. We are going to be ordering a lot of the aluminium stock and gussets. How much of a back up of orders are there? If we order that today when will it be shipping?

Thanks

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

All of the items from the Monday order will ship this week in time for the weekend.

Right now if it is available on the web, then it will ship today (if the site says in stock), or some time this week (if the site says "shipping week of Jan 20"). So right now you can't even order 1 x 2 tubing because we have it out of stock. The web site has the most up to date information.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Paul,

We were able to order Dog Gears last week, but unforutantly we didn't order the right amount. We are specifically looking for 44T Dog Gear and 60T Dog Gear.

Will these be going back into stock at some point in the near future? Or should we be looking into alternatives?

Does anyone else have these? WCP or one of the distributors?

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

You should be looking elsewhere for individual dog gears. The WCP dog gears are being 100% reserved for gearboxes and their add-on kits. Also, none of the distributors have them either.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Any idea when we could see our 3 CIM Ball Locks, 24T pulleys, and 130T belts ship out from WCP? They don't appear to have shipped out (per our tracking numbers), and the statement that they'll ship as they come in from VP is kind of nebulous. When will we be able to get our components?

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Hi Paul: So versa blocks ordered last week should ship this week? Thanks

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

If you are curious about your specific order, we're happy to give you a status update. You can do this one of three ways:

- Call VEX Customer Service at (903) 453-0802

- Send an email with your order number to sales@vexrobotics.com

- PM me your order number and I can look it up for you

Any one of those three options will yield a timely response. We are working continuously to ensure that you receive your parts as soon as we can ship them.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

For any products ordered from companies other than VEX, please contact the respective companies. We are shipping out their orders this week as well.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

For those teams hankering for the 2x1 or 1x1 VexPro aluminum, is there a technical reason why 2x1x.125 or 1x1x.0625 tubing from a supplier like online metals can't be subbed in? We have a leftover piece from last year and the 2x1 was 1.995 " tall. Is that an acceptable fit for when the Versablocks do ship? I realize it means you have to drill your own holes, but a set of transfer punches is cheap and student labor is free.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

We used regular 1 x 1 and 2 x 1 tubing during Build Blitz because we ran out of the Versachassis tube. The Versblocks work fine with regular 2x1 tubing.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Do VersaBlocks ship this week?

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Paul,

we placed our order through robot space a week or 2 ago for 3 cim ballshifters with the 2.65 short shifter and versa block kits...Do you know if clint will have those by this weekend? Thanks.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Our team has CADed our own versa plates, they can be fabricated with a CNC, laser cutter, or (if you somehow have access to one) a metal sintering 3D printer. The .zip I attached has a PDF drawing and a STEP file.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

For items marked "out of stock" will there be a re-stock? or should we make other plans?

The main thing I am interested in is the dual motor input for the versaplanetary (217-3141)

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Dual motor input VP will be restocked soon. We are waiting for a trailer that has been sitting in Dallas since last Friday. I have learned that, ironically, freight shipping companies aren't in that bug of a hurry to deliver goods to the final destination.

The VP dual input, Cimile housings and 3 Stage Ball Shifter housings are all on the same trailer. We have all the kits sitting waiting for the housings to arrive. We expect them to arrive tomorrow. If they do, we will ship all current orders on Wednesday and should put them back in stock Thursday evening.

Paul

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Having dealt with this a lot at work I can understand the frustration and yes, its totally out of your hands.

Thanks for the update and the reason why those items are on hold. Just glad to hear 3 CIM Ball Shifters are close to shipping.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Would this shipment happen to have any Versa Hex hubs 1/2" in it? I need those and would prefer to get them from you...

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

OK, so let's talk about Vershubs with 1/2" hex. We are all out of the normal Versahubs with 1/2" Hex including open orders to customers.

We have just sent 1,500 of the Versahubs with 1/4" bore to a machining house to be bored and broached, but here is the bad news: the only way to get fast turnaround on these part we need to rotary broach. What that means is the hex hole will not be oriented to the Versakey pattern. In my opinion, this does not matter because you only need one Versahub per shaft (see our diagrams on the product page). However, that is the best we have at the moment.

We are contacting customers with current orders to notify them that their hex hubs will not be oriented to the Versakey pattern. We know this situation sucks, but I feel it is better than just staying unavailable.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Thanks for the update. I will check with engineers and make sure this will work for our needs.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Thank you for the update, Paul--greatly appreciate you keeping us updated. I know this is not easy. We're looking to purchase the 3 CIM Ball Shifters as well, but we decided too late to place an order. Now I can update the team and look forward to Thursday night.

Hi there everyone,

We want to learn more about "energy that can be stored" , "using of locally purchased gearbox". Do you have any idea about them? In "material utilization" it doesn`t say anything about uses of "energy that can be stored". Can we use "bow"? This year we don`t have enough gearbox. Moreover, we haven't received any gearbox this year. As a consequence, we wonder if we can use or not.

Thanks for your attention.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

I want to thank the entire VEX staff for being so awesome. We're still waiting on Mecanum wheels (They're not in Greenville yet) but we have received everything else we have ordered including parts we ordered on Sunday night. The staff has been extremely helpful in responding to status requests and they're trying their hardest to get parts out to teams. Thank you to everyone that has been working so hard to get this done for all the teams.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Just got an email saying our order was shipped. The order was for 3 CIM ball shifters and Colson live axle hubs. Not sure what shipped but either is great!

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

I just happened to be in the "machining house" while these guys were being broached. WCP and vex are really coming through to get orders out to customers.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Well, I didn't really know if RC wanted everyone to know that WCP was doing the broaching, but I guess that doesn't matter now.:)

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

So is each hex hub going to have the same bolt pattern relevant to the hex or will they differ from hub to hub

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

This would mean that the bolts are not aligned to the hex.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Well this is fine....it's just the question of if all of the new ones will have the same bolt pattern as each other

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

No they won't the rotary broach doesn't align the hex with anything. However this is how they came last year and never once has it been a problem for us.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Let me try to be more clear. The bolt pattern and the Versakey pattern will remain perfectly oriented to each other. The hex will not be timed to either of the other two features.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Well, I have been following in CD for a few years now while mentoring my second team in five years. I have enjoyed reading many posts and have left it at that, until now. For my first post, I want to take the time to thank Paul and all of the staff at Vex and IFI for being OUTSTANDING AT CUSTOMER SERVICE. My parts were back ordered and after calling in to see if they were still going to be coming for the build season, they not only assured me they would be here, but they would provide upgraded overnight shipping to get the parts to us as soon as possible.

Thank you to Paul and all of your staff for all of your dedication to this program and the teams involved. It is greatly appreciated and I know our team will continue to use parts from Vex due to a quality product as well as customer service.

I apologize this is not necessarily on topic but figured it would be the best place to post as it is seen by the proper people.

Good luck to everyone on the rest of your build season.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Paul -

As usual, thanks for the great work you and the VexPro team are putting in. Looking forward to getting our WCD gearboxes this week and getting a drivetrain rolling - i'll send you some sexy versachassis pictures ;)

But additionally, are VersaBlocks and VersaChassis Hex shafts shipping this week with gearboxes as well, or no?

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

I just wish school PO's had the same priority as regular online purchases. I understand that faxes have to be sent and orders have to be approved but purchasing a bunch of items on kickoff day and not recieving it till today is hard on teams who are building based on almost all COTS parts. Today, we had to take items like 1/2 inch hex shaft and sprockets out of our cart so that our shipment wouldn't be held up a week before being sent. Hopefully, these are things that can be fixed in the future.

Re: VEXPro Out of Stock
 

Jun,

I understand your frustration and this will be fixed for next season, I can promise you. For any specific issues, please do not hesitate to contact our customer service department via e-mail or phone.

Paul